Before a new drug or treatment is made available to the general public, a clinical trial helps pharmaceutical companies, and their partners gather important information about a drug's safety and efficacy.
That's why clinical trials are one of the essential stages of developing and testing new drugs and treatments before bringing them to market. However, recruiting and retaining trial participants is increasingly difficult. Patient recruitment for clinical trials can be challenging and draining.
A crucial element in any clinical trial is the participants. There are many reasons why participation in trials is low, and why retaining participants until the end of the trial is difficult.
Many potential participants aren't joining research studies or trials because of lack of awareness, either through poorly targeted advertising or lack of physician involvement. Lack of access to trials also causes problems. Where trials are not promoted and designed on a local level, participants in certain communities may be unable to travel great distances to reach a trial site. They are likely busy with work or family commitments, or they just cannot afford the travel costs and the time.
Additionally, people may fear that the drugs or other therapies being tested in a clinical trial may have negative side effects. What about the tests they must undergo as part of the trial? They may mistrust the true motivation or purpose for such tests. If they have a fear of needles, they may be reluctant to join a trial that requires routine venipuncture blood draws for lab testing.
If clinical trials are to be effective, useful, and cost-efficient, the above mentioned and other challenges need to be met and overcome, including the most difficult ones: fear and mistrust. While patients fear new drugs and treatments and see only the risks associated with trials, they are unlikely to volunteer to take part or spread the word to others.
To combat the challenges, Kadam and colleagues suggest the involvement of dedicated clinical research coordinators (CRCs) to help create positive awareness about research and clinical trials among different communities. These coordinators may also have solutions for better targeting of participants through predesigned recruitment strategies.
To increase their volunteer recruitment rates, many pharmaceutical companies and the contract research organizations (CROs) who partner with them are offering people the option to participate in clinical trials from home.
These kits, which contain Mitra® microsampling devices and all the supplies needed for remote blood sample collection, can be mailed to their homes. No more time-consuming trips to the trial facility!
After sample collection, participants put the sampled device into the specimen bag and the mailing envelope.
The trial team can set up telehealth communications for follow up with remote participants via text chat, online portals, email, phone and video calls.
Learn more about remote microsampling for clinical trials here:
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